Thursday’s football tips: In-form Mbappe overpriced at 2/1 for Nations League strike against Spain

Fahad Umar
June 4, 2025
2:24 pm

Spain will be out to underline their status as Europe’s top dogs by lifting the Nations League trophy but face a tough semi-final against France tonight.

Luis de la Fuente’s slick side are on an 18-game unbeaten run, although they needed penalties to see off the Netherlands in the Nations League quarter-final after a thrilling tie ended 5-5 on aggregate.

France’s form is more flaky and they also needed spot-kicks to see of Croatia in the last eight, having recovered from a 2-0 deficit in the first leg. But Les Bleus still boast some of the best players in the world so it promises to be a thriller tonight.

Spain vs France top betting tips

Spain claimed a 2-1 win over France en route to glory at Euro 2024 last summer so they look worthy 11/8 favourites with BoyleSports for a win inside 90 minutes.

We should see goals, with BTTS and over 2.5 strikes coming up in the last two meetings and La Rioja battling out that thriller with the Dutch in the last eight.

I thought BTTS would be a lot shorter than the 5/6 on offer at BoyleSports and you can boost the odds to 6/4 by adding on over 2.5 goals.

Kylian Mbappe is going through a goal drought at international level and his last goal from France came almost a year ago in their clash with Poland at Euro 2024.

But he’s coming off the back of a 43-goal season at Real Madrid, with 10 of those goals coming in the last six games. So he looks overpriced for a goal at 2/1 with BoyleSports while Bet365 price him at 6/5 for over 1.5 shots on target.

Australia vs Japan

There’s World Cup qualifiers all over the globe today and the tastiest game comes Down Under as Australia take on Japan.

While the Japanese have already booked their ticket to the finals, the Aussies still have a bit of work to do with two games to go.

They sit in the second qualification slot but only hold a three-point lead over Saudi Arabia, with the nations set to face off in Jeddah on the final day.

So the Socceroos will be desperate to bank all three points today and BoyleSports price them at a tempting 8/5 against a Japan side with nothing to play for.

Japan won 9-0 on the corner count when these sides drew 1-1 earlier in the group but the Aussies need to be on the front foot for this one. So there could be some value in backing over 4.5 Australia corners at evens with BoyleSports.

Iraq vs South Korea

South Korea sit top of Group B in Asian qualifying and can book their place at the World Cup with a win in Iraq tonight.

The Iraqis sit third, a point behind Jordan and four adrift of the Koreans, so they need to go all out for a win to stay alive.

But South Korea have the players to punish them on the break so they look decent value for a win at 11/10 with BoyleSports.

Skipper Son Heung-min has netted three times in the section and will be the man the Koreans look to for inspiration. The Spurs star is 7/5 at Bet365 for anytime scorer.